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Ed Balls has lost his lead over George Osborne as the man most trusted to run the economy, an exclusive poll reveals today.

In a dramatic shift of fortunes, Labour’s shadow chancellor has allowed an eight-point lead over his Tory arch-rival to melt away, say pollsters, Ipsos Mori.

Mr Balls is now running neck and neck with Mr Osborne — a week after his faltering performance in the Autumn Statement debate dismayed supporters and was blamed on a childhood stammer.

His setback comes despite a marked slump in economic optimism. The percentage of people who think the economy will get worse in the next year has jumped from 35 to 46 over the past month. And the percentage who think it will get better has dropped from 29 to just 19.

The survey also found that Labour’s lead has narrowed slightly to nine points. Ed Miliband’s party is down two to 44 per cent, with David Cameron’s Conservatives up three to 35. The LibDems are unchanged at nine.

In June, when Mr Osborne was under fire for multiple Budget U-turns and a double-dip recession, Mr Balls surged ahead by 37 per cent to 29. Before that, in March, Mr Osborne was a point ahead despite the poor economic conditions. However, today’s poll finds the pair on exactly 34 per cent each. Other findings include:

Satisfaction with David Cameron is down slightly, from 40 to 37 per cent since November. Ed Miliband is unchanged at 40 per cent and Nick Clegg is still trailing on 27.

Ukip, the Eurosceptic party, are up by four points to seven per cent since last month, climbing within two points of the Lib-Dems.

Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos Mori, said: “The voters are focused on the economy, and they’ve picked up the gloomy news from the Autumn Statement. And yet Labour is still finding it difficult to convince that they would do any better.”